A Graceful Marriage of Slavic, Austrian, and Italian Cultures

Alex Crevar writes an excellent essay in yesterday's
New York Times on Ljubljana, Slovenia's urban revival,
and its attempts to avoid some of the dangers of
touristic overdevelopment and the lures of "the West",
including skyscrapers and non-contextual post-modernist
architecture. According to Ljubljana's mayor, Danica Simsic,
"We don't want Ljubljana to become a kind of train
station. We are trying to maintain its soul."

Llubljana has three locally based symphony orchestras
and 10,000 cultural events a year. Gustav Mahler was once
the resident conductor at Ljubljana's Philharmonic.

Alex Crevar In Ljubljana, the Old Europe and the New Are
Still in Balance New York Times, July 31, 2005














Ljubljana Market Hall, a masterpiece of
contextual modernism by architect Joze Plecnik
Photo credit: Thea Friskoth